Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Boyles Ends Silence on VOE Allegations

We neglected to get ourselves onto Portland Council candidate Emilie Boyles' email list, and now I imagine it's probably too late to bother....Blue Oregon got a copy of the press release that ends her silence on the emerging story about her potential violations of public financing laws. With respect and a big hat tip to BO, we reprint the entire release verbatim from them:

James 1:5 clearly states "If any man lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." Emilie Boyles is a woman who is committed to her faith and in times of difficulty relies on her relationship with Jesus Christ for wisdom and guidance. Many of the media have commented on her silence during this past week. Boyles has used this week to continue her work with the poor in Portland. She has continued to write, she has continued to feed people, she has continued to work for a living, and she has continued to meet and pray with members of the conservative Christian community. Because there is a criminal investigation, Boyles is unable to comment on the circumstances that have been highlighted in the media over the past week. However, she would like to clarify several issues to the community:

Emilie Boyles is NOT withdrawing from the for Portland City Commission Seat 2. Continued participation in Voter Owned Elections and return of funds has not yet been decided however, at this time no new campaign obligations are being aquired. Money is not a factor in choosing to participate in the election process.

Erik Sten authored Voter Owned Elections. Either this was yet another example of his lack of ability to understand big-picture consequences of his actions or he intentionally left these holes in the Voter Owned Election Process as a tool to warn average grass-roots citizens to stay out of politics. If he didn't understand the consequences, as he hasn't understood the consequences of other decisions he's made, then he should not be in office. If he intentionally crafted this ordinance as a means of keeping challengers that are not in his circle of cronies, then Portlanders need to assure access to City Hall by voting him out of office.

As she has for over 20 years, Emilie Boyles will continue to work for our city, bringing new resources to the people of Portland and finding new ways of making our city liveable whether or not she is in office. Even as Joseph was set-up by his own brothers and confronted the consequences of their actions, eventually the truth was known by all and he still showed mercy and forgiveness towards them. The circumstances did not stop Joseph from doing good for his people and these circumstances will not stop Emilie Boyles from doing good for the people of Portland.

Volodymr Golovan has been terminated from the Boyles for Portland campaign. The campaign has asked Mr. Golovan to return funds paid to him by the campaign and to be fiscally responsible for damages to the campaign and the City of Portland.

Emilie Boyles now calls on the community of faith in Portland. Now is the time to pray for Portland's future. She asks that every church and synogogue choose this Sunday and every Sunday through May 16th to take a moment and pray for our leaders, our candidates, and for wisdom from God for our city.###

FOR THE GOOD OF PORTLAND!

Elect Emilie Boyles to Portland City Commission Seat 2Visit her website at emilieboyles.com

My only comment at this stage is that if she's really going to blame her compliance issues on Sten's drafting of the ordinance, her reliance on spiritual guidance in times of trouble will come in handy--because God help her campaign at this point.